


Controlled Burn

by kay_obsessive



Category: Psychonauts
Genre: Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-21
Updated: 2018-07-21
Packaged: 2019-06-09 16:38:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15271734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kay_obsessive/pseuds/kay_obsessive
Summary: Lili Zanotto discovers her talent for pyrokinesis not long after her affinity for plant life, both in the gardens of Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp.





	Controlled Burn

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Flammenkobold](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flammenkobold/gifts).



Lili Zanotto discovers her talent for pyrokinesis not long after her affinity for plant life, both in the beautiful gardens of Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp.

Milla feels her anxiety and panic long before she glimpses smoke or flame, and she fears the worst as she joins the other counselors rushing to find its source.

It is a small fire, thankfully, and the other children who have come to gawk stay well back. Milla pulls Lili away with a quick mental tug, and then it is a simple matter of generating a big enough psychic shield to smother the life from the flames. 

The garden smolders, and Lili cries. “I didn’t mean to!” chokes out between her sobs.

“I know, my darling, I know,” Milla soothes. It is so difficult for young psychics, discovering their powers and learning their limits. That is the whole reason for the camp: to ease their way, to keep them safe, at least as much as can be possible. And Lili, with so much talent so early, is even younger than most here. “Come away, now. Let’s get you looked at.”

She seems mostly unharmed, but Milla leads her to the nearest cabin and takes down the first aid kit just to be sure. She can remember all too well the immense pain of burning, even though it wasn’t her own pain. “Do you hurt anywhere?” she asks, sitting down beside Lili on the cabin steps.

She shakes her head, but Milla can see streaks of shiny red on her hands and arms as she wipes at her tears.

Milla tuts and gently pulls her closer. She takes out a clean, cool cloth and sets to work on the burns. “Would you like to talk about what happened?”

Another shake of her head, but when Milla shrugs and lets the silence go on for a few minutes, she eventually mumbles, “I was trying to scare the squirrels away.”

“The squirrels?” Milla says, smiling at her in gentle confusion. “Why ever were you trying to do that?”

“They kept chewing on the flowers! It was hurting them! I only wanted it to be a little fire…” She bites her lip, and Milla can see tears threatening to spill again at the corners of her eyes. She reaches out to wipe them away before they can fall. 

Control is all that Lili lacks. It’s all most of them lack at this age. Milla can’t quite stomach leading a lesson in pyrokinesis, but she’ll nudge Sasha or Morceau into teaching her what she needs. “It’s all right, darling. I know you didn’t mean for anything bad to happen, and no lasting harm was done.” She smiles again and returns to treating the burns, carefully spreading a thin layer of ointment over the reddened skin. “We’ll fix you up, and then it will be just a bad memory.”

Lili winces at the touch but keeps still, watching as Milla finishes bandaging her hands. She looks up shyly and asks, “Isn’t there anything you can do?”

“I’m afraid this _is_ what I can do for you, sweetie. Psychics can sometimes do a little bit for hurts that happen up here” – she pauses to tap a finger against the side of her head – “but for this we must heal like everyone else.”

Lili shakes her head. “No, I mean… for the flowers.”

“Ah, I see.” Milla glances up, where the haze of smoke is still drifting over the cabin rooftops. She smiles. “I cannot do anything for the ones you burned, but fire can sometimes be good for what comes after. When it is safe and you’re feeling better, you and I can get to work on replanting the gardens. Does that sound okay?”

Though her eyes are still watery, Lili returns the smile. “Okay.”


End file.
